Quaker Breakfast Flats … A Healthy Breakfast or a Breakfast Cookie?

Quaker Breakfast Flats … A Healthy Breakfast or a Breakfast Cookie?

Breakfast can be one of the hardest meals of the day, especially if you’re not a morning person. Yes, that “not a morning person” comment needs a big arrow pointing at me. 🙂 So marketing healthy, convenient breakfast foods is literally a goldmine for food companies. But are most of these products really healthy? Let’s take a closer look at one of the newest “healthy” breakfast products on the block—Quaker Breakfast Flats.

Honestly, these are one of those products I want to love. They’re available in three varieties (Cranberry Almond, Banana Honey Nut, and Golden Raisin Cinnamon), and they sound delicious and healthy.

And boy, does Quaker do an amazing job marketing these breakfast flats. Just look at their TV commercial.

Here’s a script from their ad:

A lot went into perfecting new Quaker Breakfast flats.

We gathered, measured, mixed and tasted.

Because a lot goes into Quaker Breakfast Flats …

tart cranberries, crunchy almonds, sweet bananas

toasted pecans, golden raisins, baked in with our wholesome oats.

Help satisfy your morning hunger with every single bite.

Introducing our newest creation … Quaker Breakfast Flats.

What’s not to like about Quaker Breakfast Flats? Cranberries, almonds, bananas, pecans, golden raisins, and oats … those are pretty much all real ingredients we can get behind, right?

So What’s the Problem with Quaker Breakfast Flats? Lots of Added Sugar!

Unfortunately there’s one important fact that Quaker forgets to mention in their round-up of ingredients. Sugar and lots of it!

One 3 bar package which weighs 30 grams serves up 10-12 grams of sugar. I can even do that math in my head … each serving is over 30% sugar, and mostly from added sugars. For example, the Cranberry Almond flavor has 12 grams of sugar and lists three sources of added sugar on its ingredient label: brown sugar, sugar, and honey. Although its ingredient label is relatively clean for a processed food, that’s still a whole lot of sugar!

Is this failure to share the sugar content a mere oversight? I don’t think so. Quaker might argue that TV ads are expensive and you can only say so much, but they conveniently forget to mention anything about all that sugar on the landing page of their website or the back panel of their box.

Quaker fails to mention the mere presence of sugar in their Breakfast Flats on the landing page of their website.Quaker also forgets to mention how much sugar are in these breakfast flats on the back panel of their box.

Only in the tiny print of the ingredient label and nutrition facts panel is the topic of sugar brought up.

And why should we be concerned about the sugar content? Added sugars are one of the leading causes of obesity, diabetes, and potentially many other diseases like cancer, heart disease, and dementia. In fact many health organizations including the American Heart Association recommend we limit our intake of added sugars to no more than 6 teaspoons (24 grams) per day for women, and 9 teaspoons (36 grams) for men. 1 That means one serving of Quaker Breakfast Flats easily sucks up one-third to one-half of your daily recommended intake of added sugar. I think most people would find that surprising since they’ve been led to believe that Quaker Breakfast Flats are a healthy choice.

And to make a bad situation worse … if you follow Quaker’s online suggestion and pair your Breakfast Flats with a cup of coffee and yogurt, you could easily find yourself eating you’re entire day’s worth of added sugar over a “healthy” breakfast.

So what’s the bottom line? Quaker Breakfast Flats Are Cookies.

Let’s be honest. Are Quaker Breakfast Flats evil? No. They are, however, a cookie in disguise and should be treated as such.

I don’t know about you, but I indulge in sweet treats sometimes. I usually try to make them from scratch with real ingredients, but I do eat some processed goodies. The problem, however, is understanding what’s a treat vs. truly healthy—especially given how food products are marketed these days. When we’re pressed for time and looking for quick solutions, it’s easy to fall prey to the misleading claims and imagery.

So if you’re having an indulgent moment and you want a treat, Quaker Breakfast Flats aren’t a horrible choice. In fact, they beat the heck out of an Oreo cookie. But if you’re trying to establish a healthy breakfast or snack routine, I’d steer clear of Quaker’s latest breakfast cookie. Instead, why not try an easy, healthy breakfast option like my recipe for Real Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits! 🙂

What do you think?

Have you tried Quaker Breakfast Flats or one of their other “healthy” breakfast products? What do you think? Share your thoughts below. We’d love to hear from you!

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This Post Has 14 Comments

Ah, breakfast cookies and breakfast cupcakes – those bars and muffins are really dessert in disguise!

If I’m going to have a muffin for breakfast, I make a wonderful yogurt and blueberry ones with lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Soooooo good.

I recognize that the proper sized muffin is way smaller than the ones sold in the coffee shops. Mine are made in an old-fashioned muffin tin so they’re about 2″ across on the bottom, and 3″ (max) across on the top. And you only get one!

Plain yogurt and fresh fruit can be combined in so many delicious ways.

You’re so right, Gail. Bars and muffins get a lot of us in trouble. Between the large portion sizes and all the added sugars, is easy for what seems like a relatively innocent choice to be truly indulgent.

As always, thanks for your comments and readership! Here’s to making smarter food choices with real food!

Hi there ..since I don’t add sugar to my tea or coffee ..having the Breakfast Flats isn’t such a terrible thing to have for breakfast ..especially since I don’t usually eat breakfast very much ..I find having the flats for breakfast is better than having no breakfast at all.

I took a little bite from my granddaughter’s Quaker flat bar. It was delicious but I am a diabetic and was glad it was only a very tiny piece. Why can’t manufacturers make something like this sugar free. Why put in all this extra sugar. Then try to make people believe it is healthy.

Thanks for your comment, Darlene. I couldn’t agree with you more. Unfortunately most people’s taste buds are accustomed to really sweet foods, and so the general public has come to expect that. To complicate matters—food manufacturers want us to believe that even treats like these Quaker Breakfast Flats are healthy despite all the added sugars in them. Hopefully posts like this will help people watch out for added sugar in their food!

I really loved the peanut butter flavor and it had the least sugar but they discontinued it! I even complained to Quaker. I liked them so much that I look for any unsold boxes every store i go to. I ate them with plain yogurt and black unsweetened tea. The other flavors are too sweet.

Eating the blueberry Go Kit and trying the blueberry flats for the first time, my immediate impression was that these were cookie-like graham cracker treats, not a healthy breakfast. Nice little dessert snack but should be known that’s what they are.

Thank you for the info on added sugars, in regards to the Quaker Breakfast Flats (ugh I just inhaled a 3 bar pack of the Baked Flats, Cranberry Almond. I did not have time to make my usual breakfast this morning, I remembered I had this in my work van. A friend gave it to me to try out since I love cranberry almond everything). They were so good, as I was looking for places to buy & nutritional info online, I came across your blog, read it, then ran to the trash can to grab the wrapper. I honestly didn’t even pay attention to the ingredients or nutritional value, I was starving. Ugh, Brown Sugar is the 3rd ingredient, sugar is listed as the 6th ingredient and honey is the 11th. Total carbs, 27g – Fiber 3g, Sugars – 11g (either my math is way off,or there are 13 grams missing on the break down of carbs?) 11 grams of sugars in 1 serving??? Wow, just wow. So disappointed, with myself for not reading the label first (I will be regretting it when I crash, I am not used to this much sugar at any time let alone all at once), disappointed in Quaker as well…

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